1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus that receives an image through a network and controls the display of the image, a conference system that uses a plurality of communication apparatuses for a conference, a computer-readable recording medium containing a computer program that causes a computer to perform a process for controlling the display of the image, and a display control method for controlling the display of the image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Videoconference systems for a remote conference with a remote place through a network such as the Internet are widely used. The videoconference system uses a communication apparatus placed in a conference room to take an image of the conference room including the user who is a participant in the conference, collect the voice, and transmit the image and voice to the communication apparatus on the other side of the conference, and causes the communication apparatus on the other side to display the image and output the voice. This enables the users to have a conference between remote places while feeling as if the users actually participate in in the conference held in a conference room.
To easily grasp the positional relationship in all the directions among the objects of which images are taken and improve the convenience of operation in such a video conference system, a technique to simultaneously display a circular image, a panoramic image, and a clipped image is proposed (see Japanese Patent No. 5589644). In the technique described in Japanese Patent No. 5589644, an area to be clipped as the clipped image is selected, and the display mode in which the circular image, the panoramic image, and the clipped image are displayed is switched in conjunction with the selecting operation.
It is, however, necessary for the user of the technique to perform touch operation by touching a touch panel to select an area to be clipped, and flick operation to scroll the area to be clipped in order to display an appropriate image. The user needs to perform such operation while speaking in the conference. This extremely lacks the convenience for the user.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need to provide, for example, an apparatus that enables the user to display an optimal image to the user without the user's operation for processing the image including all the participants in the other conference room.